Across the Horizons
by TheWriteStuffs
Summary: She briefly ponders if she may be in love with him, though she dismisses the thought. It's not like she's ever going to see him again anyway.
1. Prologue: Amelia Alone

**Across the Horizon**

**A Prologue**

_Time _weighs heavy on Dr. Brand.

As far as Brand knows, Time is not a physical entity. Sure, it can be observed, it can be measured, and it can be bent...but Time it is not an object that you could hold and touch. A watch only allowed you to see time pass, not to harness it. Yet somehow, more than anything, Brand can feel it, and the more Time that passes, the heavier it feels.

She feels it in the stiffness of her bones, reminding her that she had probably overstayed her time in cryo sleep. She feels it blow gushes of wind in the canyons of her mind, as she tries to piece together her erratic and broken thoughts . Amelia feels Time weigh heavily down on her heart and mind, a force on her emotions stronger than Gravity.

Time. It passes with such complexity that she wants to forget it completely.

Floating through the vastness of the unfamiliar galaxy towards a once familiar man, it feels as if Amelia has infinite time. Infinite time to reflect on her past mistakes. The further she drifts from Gargantua, from Miller's and from Mann's, the more prominent Amelia's past mistakes become. The tragedies follow her like a shadow, hanging behind her every move.

There isn't one day that goes by that she does not think about her blunder on Miller's planet, and how she may have contributed to the end of the human race by messing it all up, by wasting time.

The more time passes, the less she thinks about Wolfe Edmunds. Well, this isn't entirely true. She thinks about him every day. However, Amelia's thoughts regarding Edmunds are no longer centered around hopeful reunions, but are rather conceived as an afterthought. She's grateful to him, no doubt. He was the love of her life, but that life had long ago ended as she watched the people she cared about get taken by the Universe. With each passing day aboard the Endurance, she realizes that she may very well be the last human left alive, including Edmunds.

The less she thinks of Edmunds, the more she thinks of Cooper. Ironic, considering she's literally drifting closer to Edmunds and further from what may remain of Cooper. Though she cannot stop her mind her mind from drifting to the latter.

She's angry with him. Furious! Angry that he left her to drift through an unfamiliar galaxy, headed to an unknown planet that may or may not be the key to re-establishing the human race. Angry, that he left her alone to bear the pressure of being the one responsible for all of mankind! Just thinking about it causes her to break down. Random Intervals in time, the gravity of the situation pushes her to the floor, crumples her into a ball and forces the tears as she gasps through each sob.

CASE, the only thing keeping her sane (if you could call her that), starts accounting for her mood swings. Months away from Gargantua, and months out from Edmunds, Brand's mood worsens by the day. CASE deciphers the mood swings as depression, and tries to counter her moods by making more conversation.

"Knock Knock," the robot tries to mimic what his former companion, TARS, might have said, though it doesn't elicit a response; not even a charismatic chuckle that CASE had come to associate with Dr. Brand in the past escapes her lips. Conversation becomes strictly professional and sparse.

In reality, the Endurance has been heading away from Gargantua for a total of twelve months, eight of them spent Dr. Brand had spent in cryo sleep. She feels guilty for already feeling so hopeless. Even Mann, for the coward that he was, lasted years before he succumbed to the weakness of human nature. Wasn't it her own ignorance that had doomed Romily to spend 23 years floating around in the Endurance, left to wonder if he would live the rest of his life alone. It seems fitting that she suffer the same fate.

So Amelia progresses on, letting herself slowly slip into insanity. She won't let herself be a coward, like Mann. Like her father.

She wants to be mad at both of them. She wants to curse their names and cast them to the wind. Yes, she considers her father's lie as unforgivable. Still, she wishes he was there with her all the time, holding her and telling her that everything would be okay. What Mann did was even more unforgivable, yet she finds it hard to blame him. She often wonders if she had a button that would send people coming her way no matter the circumstance, would she press it?

_In a heartbeat. _

As time passes, the images in her head of her father holding her, cooing her and protecting her, morph into the image of Cooper. He embraces her, holds her, tells her he's sorry and tells her that she never has to be alone again. She can feel his calloused hands as his thumb rubs soothingly across her temple. She feels his chest rise and fall as he holds her.

Amelia opens her eyes afters dreams such as this, tears rolling freely down her cheeks as she realizes that it merely a fantasy.

She briefly ponders if she may be in love with him, though she banters with herself, first asking how that could ever happen in the first place. _Because of what you've been through together. Because he's smart and caring and SO brave. Because he saved you and made such an incredible sacrifice. _She shakes off the thought when she realizes that there's no point arguing with herself, as she's never going to see him again anyway.


	2. Chapter 1: Cooper Alone

Hi everyone! I wanted to thank those of you who read the previous chapter and left such kind reviews! It's been a while since I've written fanfiction; I forgot how much I love it. Anyway, I loved Interstellar...I saw it 6 times in theaters, which is typical unheard of for me. I hope the science of this isn't too fuzzy. Without further interruption, please enjoy the this chapter! Thanks for reading!

**Across the Horizons**

Chapter 1

"TARS, how much longer until we reach Edmunds' Planet?" Cooper's voice broke what felt like an eternal silence. His voice was rough, strained from a lack of use.

"Nice to see you awake Cooper," TARS remarked, "I was beginning to think I'd have to wake you from Cryo sleep myself, lazy." His cue light blinked, causing a dazed Cooper to smirk.

"Nice to see you too slick, how long?" Cooper reiterated.

Cooper had stolen a Ranger Spacecraft, much smaller than the ship they had for the Endurance, though it had enough life support for a 2 year journey as well as a sleep chamber that Cooper took full advantage of. For Cooper, this mission was entirely about the destination rather than the journey.

"Remaining trajectory to Edmunds' Planet in Earth time is eight days," TARS answered.

"Eight days, huh slick. Hope we can surprise Dr. Brand. About how long has she been stationed on Edmunds?"

"Cooper, you know there is the possibility that she hasn't survived, you acknowledge this, yes?"

There was a pause in the conversation. Cooper's faced remained stiffly determined, with a hint of question behind his eyes.

"How long?" Cooper repeated, firmer than before.

TARS paused again, "If she landed safely on Edmunds, by the time we arrive, she would have been there 9-10 months."

"Nine to ten," Cooper questioned, "Well how do ya figure that? Why not one or the other?"

"On Cooper Station, my power source was nitched, therefor I can't approximate for the time I was out. However, it is my understanding that from when you entered Earth's galaxy and from your time on Cooper station, as Dr. Brand got further away from Gargantua, time passed more quickly. Therefor more time has passed for her than for you."

Cooper didn't follow. "You know TARS, you'd think after what I've seen I'd be able to understand what you just told me, but-"

"Cooper, maybe I should make it more simple for your small human mind," Cooper rolled his eyes as TARS' humor light went off again, "While in your reality it seems that only twelve months have passed since you left Cooper Station, due to Relativity, my estimate is that for Dr. Brand, it's been 23 months since we left her at Gargantua. Get it?"

Cooper got it, but the situation stunned him into a silence. _23 months all by herself. Man, 23 must be an unlucky number._

"She's been alone for that long? Almost two years?" Cooper thought out loud.

"Don't forget that she has CASE to keep her company. And she probably spent a good amount of that time in Cryo sleep." TARS could sense the guilt radiating off of Cooper.

"Still, that's a long time to be on your own." Cooper briefly thought of what Amelia might look like after two years. Would her hair be longer? He couldn't imagine it. He liked it short. Cooper quickly brushed away the thought.

"Cooper, like I said before, there's no way of knowing for sure if she's even survived all this time."

"TARS, that's enough!" Cooper lashed out, his face uncommonly angry, "How is that supposed to help at all?"

TARS remained undeterred, "I just think you should prepare yourself for the worst. Even though Cooper Station recieved signals from Edmunds, it doesn't mean the planet has been entirely without fault. After all, Edmunds himself stopped sending signals long before she even got there."

TARS was quiet for a moment as he allowed Cooper to think this over. Cooper sighed heavily, briefly considering the possibility, then deciding against it.

"No TARS, she made it."

TARS didn't respond, knowing that Cooper often made assumptions based on heart rather than logic.

Cooper had another question, "So you think Dr. Brand is entirely alone, other than CASE? You don't think Edmunds made it?" The question came out cautiously, reminiscent of the time he had first asked TARS if Edmunds and Brand were an item.

TARS was able to pick up on the cue, "There is no reason to believe that Edmunds has survived. Based on the signal that Cooper Station received from Brand, it is safe to say she is the soul survivor, and she believes it."

"What do you mean?"

"Brand has no reason to believe or know for sure whether or not humans survived. For all she knows, she is the last human alive. She doesn't even know for sure if her signal reached Cooper Station; she doesn't even know what Cooper Station is. She was sending signals out in hopes that it may reach whoever was left of Earth."

With each fact TARS relayed to Cooper, it dawned on him how alone Brand must feel, and the guilt overwhelmed him. Of course, sacrificing himself to enter the blackness of Gargantua had been for both humankind itself as well as Amelia. Somewhere in the back of his mind, not thinking he would survive, he had hoped Edmunds would be alive. He didn't want Amelia to be alone.

He hadn't thought of the other possibility. That he would survive and that Edmunds would not.

"Cooper, what are you thinking? I sense a great deal of stress." TARS asked carefully.

"Nothing, I just didn't really think this whole thing through."

"Well Cooper, I'm sure Dr. Brand will be happy to see you. Almost as happy you will be to see her I'm sure." TARS cue light blinked once again.

Cooper raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?" Though Cooper already knew the answer.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? Dr. Brand is the only female on Edmunds' planet. Soon you will be the only male. According to biology-"

"Alright TARS that's enough." Cooper felt the heat rise to his face. It wasn't fun letting a robot get the best of him, though Cooper would be lying if he said he's never thought of Dr. Brand in that light before.

Dr. Brand…._Amelia_, in the beginning, was something of a mystery for Cooper. Initially, she came off as a little arrogant and intentionally private, though she wore her emotions on her plainly in her expressions.

Cooper thought about what Amelia said back when the team was deciding whether or not to head towards Mann's or Edmunds'.

"_Love isn't something we invented. It's observable, powerful, it has to mean something."_

Amelia turned out to be right, as evident by the fifth dimensional representation of his time with Murph. But was there something more to it? Amelia had also said that she was drawn across the Universe to a man that she loved, even though he may be dead.

And here Cooper was, leaving behind an elderly Murphy, leaving behind the rest of humankind to travel across the horizons towards the person he is most drawn to.

He hesitated to throw around the world "love," but any other excuse seemed weak. _She's alone, I'm just keeping her company like any person would. I can't leave her to think she's the last human alive in the entire Universe. There's nothing left for me at Cooper Station._

All these excuses held some truth, but not _the_ truth. Behind every logical reason for joining Dr. Brand on an unfamiliar planet, was the underlying excitement that Cooper felt in the pit of his stomach when he thought of reuniting with Amelia. The truth was in the crooked smile that appeared on Coopers face at random times of the day, when the image of Amelia popped into his head. He held imaginary conversations with her inside his mind. He could see her roll her eyes, he could hear her laugh wholeheartedly, and he could almost look into her eyes and see the compassion underneath the pretense of indifference.

_"Love is the one thing that we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can't understand it."_


End file.
